About this project

The African Origins Project invites members of the public to assist in identifying the historical origins of Africans
transported in the transatlantic slave trade. This website presents details of thousands of Africans liberated from
slaving vessels in the early 19th century. Those with knowledge of African languages, cultural naming practices, and ethnic
groups can assist in identifying these Africans' origins by drawing on their own expertise to identify the likely
ethno-linguistic origin of an individual's name.

History of the Project

The African Origins project arose directly from the work of G. Ugo Nwokeji and David Eltis, who in 2002 used audio
recordings of names found in Courts of Mixed Commission records for Havana, Cuba, and Freetown, Sierra Leone, to
identify likely ethno-linguistic origins. The names in these recordings were pronounced by speakers of the same
language and accent that the Courts of Mixed Commission registrars would likely have had (e.g., if the name was written
in a Havana register, Eltis and Nwokeji had the name pronounced by a Spanish speaker with a Havana accent). This helped
connect the sound of the name to its spelling and thus enabled a more accurate assessment of the name’s possible ethnic
origins than provided by its written counterpart alone. Eltis and Nwokeji played these recordings to informants in
Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Angola and to members of the African diaspora in parts of North America, who were able to
identify through these pronunciations the likely ethnic group from which the name derived. Such one-on-one research
with informants, though successful, proved highly time consuming and yielded little more than two identifications for
each African in their dataset, and led to the pursuit of an online method of broadly soliciting volunteers to assist
with this project.

Project Team

Many people contributed to the creation and implementation of this site. They include the following (unless
otherwise indicated, Project Development Team members were affiliated with Emory University):

Early Contributors of African Names

In addition to the numerous and anonymous members of the public whose suggestions have and will continue to make possible the reconstruction of Africans’ history, we would like to thank the following individuals whose knowledge, time, and research were invaluable to launching this project.

Kwesi DeGraft-Hanson

Tazieff Koroma

Henry Lovejoy

Philip Misevich

G. Ugo Nwokeji

Ijeoma Ohiaeri

Olatunji Ojo

Sponsors

EMORY UNIVERSITY

Emory University is internationally recognized as an inquiry-driven, ethically engaged, and diverse community, whose
members work collaboratively for positive transformation in the world through courageous leadership in teaching,
research, scholarship, health care, and social action. Emory University Libraries have played a leadership role in
building a national digital library network, supporting innovative technology initiatives, and developing premier
research collections and instructional programs that make the library a destination for students and scholars.

The Emory University Office of the Provost's Research Collaboration in the Humanities grant program fosters interdisciplinary research in the humanities and multi-disciplinary collaborations between the humanities and the social and hard sciences. The grant program builds on Emory’s existing strengths in the humanities while building new conversations across a spectrum of disciplines.

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent grant-making agency of the United States
government dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. Each
year the NEH designates a portion of its grants as "We the People" projects -- a special recognition by the NEH for
model projects that advance the study, teaching, and understanding of American history and culture.

W.E.B. DU BOIS INSTITUTE FOR AFRICAN AND AFRICAN AMERICAN RESEARCH

Through fellowships to scholars, sponsorship of a range of cultural and educational events and projects, and
affiliation with other outreach programs, the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research
advances study and understanding of the African diasporic experience.

Acknowledgments

Many individuals supported the work of the project and the project team, too numerous to name here. In
addition to heartfelt thanks to the various individuals at Emory University, Emory University Libraries, and the
National Endowment for the Humanities who provided assistance to this project, we especially acknowledge Marcy
Alexander and Allison Rollins of Emory University’s History Department, for the considerable attention and care they gave to supporting
the administrative needs of this project.